Streszczenie:

The present research has been conducted within the scope of such relevant direction of linguistics as functional lexicology, and is associated with the identification of semantic modifications of the word, which are conditioned by contextual features of its use. The adjectives atomic and nuclear became the object of the analysis: we give their characteristics in the lexical system of the Russian language, present the frequency of their use in different types of discourse, study more than 300 contexts of their use with nouns in the modern political discourse. The adjectives are studied in their direct and figurative meanings in neutral texts, as well as in pejorative (negative) and ameliotory (positive) contexts. It has been established that the Russian political discourse is characterized by prevailing use of adjectives atomic and nuclear in direct meaning. It has been revealed that the basis of metaphorization as the main way of creating figurative meanings of the adjectives in the political discourse is represented with such features as powerful release of energy, concentration, innovativeness, progress. We show the mechanism of leveling the pejorative axiological component of the phrase atomic bomb arising from its use in direct meaning and the appearance of ameliotory connotative meanings in the neutral phrase nuclear reactor. It has been found that the units under study are not recorded by lexicographic sources in figurative meanings, since they express an occasional sense in the political discourse.